Your First Step: Acceptance

The three habits that experts consider cold, hard proof of sleep deprivation: You rely on caffeine to make it through the day, every day (even with a good night's sleep); you can't wake up on time without an alarm; and on weekends you have to sleep in for hours.

Increase Hours Painlessly

Go to bed 15 minutes earlier every night for a week, then add another 15 the next week and so on, says Joseph Ojile, M.D.: "Tiny increments are less daunting but can make a major difference. In a month, you'll be sleeping an hour more every night."

Resist the Siren Call of the Screen

Shut down your iStuff, TV and computer an hour before you crash; artificial light fools your brain's hypothalamus (the part that transitions you into sleep) into thinking it's daytime. If you absolutely can't resist a peek at email, at least hold the phone at arm's length to minimize the effects.

Don't Drink and Sleep

Middle-of-the-night bladder calls aren't doing your good night's sleep any favors,so try not to down a lot of liquid before bedtime—especially anything alcoholic. Although booze can make you drowsy right after you drink it, several hours later you might wake up; experts hypothesize that's because falling blood alcohol levels disrupt your sleep, particularly R.E.M.—the deepest kind.

Beat That 2 a.m. Wide-Eyes Thing

Wakefulness issues—lying in bed totally alert in the middle of the night, getting up earlier than you want to—are common sleep problems, even if insomnia gets all the attention. White noise helps; the steady whir of a fan or a wave machine can soothe you into slumber and cancel out middle-of-the-night car horns and your partner's snoring (plus frustration about said snoring).